1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for managing network devices on a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been a management apparatus that manages network devices such as a printer or a multifunction peripheral, and further includes a task function. The task function automatically executes at a designated time, such as at night, a management task (hereinafter referred to as a task) with respect to an object that is arbitrarily selected by a user. More specifically, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-323364 discusses a task for downloading to the network device, resource data (i.e., an object) selected by the user.
An example of a process performed by the task function employing an object is distribution of the object selected by the user when registering the task. Conventionally, the task is executed as is, even when the object has been changed between registration of the task and execution of the task, so that the newest resource data can be downloaded. However, if the object is changed before executing the task, the object may be processed against the intentions of an administrator when generating and registering the task (e.g., illegal data distribution). Such a case may occur in a portion of the management tasks to be performed with respect to the network devices.